President of India’s message on the eve of National Day of Kuwait

President of India’s message on the eve of National Day of Kuwait The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has extended his greetings and felicitations to the Amir and people of the State of Kuwait on the eve of the National Day of the State of Kuwait (February 25, 2015). In his message to His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Amir of the State of Kuwait, the President has said, “On behalf of the Government and the people of India and on my own behalf, I am pleased to extend warm greetings and felicitations to Your Highness and to the people of the State of Kuwait on the occasion of your National Day. India deeply values its friendly ties with the State of Kuwait, marked by close people-to-people contacts. The positive contribution of the Indian community in the development of Kuwait is an important pillar of our excellent bilateral relations. I am confident that our mutually beneficial ties will continue to diversify and strengthen in the years to come. I take this opportunity to convey to Your Highness my best wishes for your personal good health and well-being, as also for the continued progress and prosperity of the friendly people of the State of Kuwait”. **********PM writes to Chief MinistersGovernment accepts recommendations of the 14th Finance CommissionRecord increase in devolution of resources to states PM: Our Government has decided to devolve maximum money to states and allow them the required freedom to plan the course of states’ development.The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has written to Chief Ministers, informing them of the Government`s decision to wholeheartedly accept the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission. Following is the text of the Prime Minister`s letter: "You are aware that ever since our Government came into office, I have been working to strengthen our federal polity and promote cooperative federalism. The people of the country have high expectations from their governments and do not want to wait. Therefore, since the very beginning, we have been committed to a rapid and inclusive process of growth. Looking to the diversity of the country, we understand that real and functional Federal Governance is the only vehicle to achieve this objective quickly and holistically. I sincerely believe that strong states are the foundation of a strong India. Even as Chief Minister, I had been saying that the progress of the country depends on the progress of states. This Government is, therefore, committed to the idea of empowering states in all possible ways. We also believe that states should be allowed to chalk out their programmes and schemes with greater financial strength and autonomy, while observing financial prudence and discipline. We are clear that without this, local development needs cannot be met and marginalised communities and backward regions cannot be brought into the mainstream. With this in mind, we have replaced the Planning Commission with the NITI Aayog with the explicit intent of ensuring that this becomes a common forum for forging a national vision on development. Such a vision and the concrete steps that all of us take will help in realising the development aspirations of our people. It is in this context that we have wholeheartedly accepted the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, although it puts a tremendous strain on the Centre’s finances. The 14th FC has recommended a record increase of 10% in the devolution of the divisible pool of resources to states. This compares with the marginal increases made by previous Finance Commissions. The total devolution to states in 2015-16 will be significantly higher than in 2014-15. This naturally leaves far less money with the Central Government. However, we have taken the recommendations of the 14th FC in a positive spirit as they strengthen your hand in designing and implementing schemes as per your priorities and needs. In making its recommendations, the 14th FC has made a fundamental shift in the pattern of financing revenue expenditures. It has assumed all central assistance to State Plan Revenue expenditure to be part of the states’s revenue burden and determined devolution on this basis. Para 7.43 of its report explains this. The dominant view of states too has been that a majority of the resources should flow as tax devolution and the number of CSS should be reduced as the 14th FC states in Paras 8.6 & 8.7. Therefore, there is a shift from scheme and grant based support from the Central Government to a devolution based support. Hence, the devolution of 42% of divisible resources. Therefore, as per the 14th FC, all State Plan Revenue expenditure has to be met from the resources being devolved to states. In spite of this large devolution, we have decided to continue with some support to topmost areas of national priority such as poverty elimination, MNREGA, education, health, rural development, agriculture and a few other areas. You will appreciate that, following the acceptance of the 14th FC recommendations, we are moving away from rigid centralised planning, forcing a ‘One size fits all’ approach on states. States have always been voicing their opposition to this philosophy for years. Accepting these long standing concerns and long-felt lacunae in the country’s planning process, our Government has decided to devolve maximum money to states and allow them the required freedom to plan the course of states’ development. The additional 10% of resources being devolved will give you this freedom. In this overall context when you are flush with resources, I would like you to have a fresh look at some of the erstwhile schemes and programmes supported by the centre. States are free to continue or change these schemes and programmes as per their discretion and requirement. In all these, the Union Government, particularly the NITI Aayog, will support states in developing a strategy and in its execution through ideas, knowledge and technology. This is all towards the fulfilment of my promise of co-operative federalism. As you have already seen, we have decided to involve states in discussing and planning national priorities. This is being done so as to maximise the outcome from every rupee spent either at the centre or the state. It was with this spirit of Team India that all Chief Ministers have been made equal partners in the Governing Council of NITI Aayog. This is our strategy to take the country to a faster and yet inclusive growth trajectory through co-operative federalism which is real and true federalism. We are happy with our decision and that resources are going to the right place. Resources are going to states to ensure that poverty is eliminated, jobs are created; houses, drinking water, roads, schools, hospitals and electricity are provided. This has never happened in this country before. In addition, we have recently revised the rates of royalty on minerals which benefits many states. The ongoing transparent auction of coal and other minerals will result in flow of over Rs 1 lakh crore of additional funds to mineral and coal bearing states. Eastern India, which is less developed in spite of having immense mineral resources, is an important gainer and this is an opportunity for this part to catch up with the rest of the country. Resources, thus, are not and will not be a problem. The issue is the direction and intent of our policies and our capacity to implement. You will agree that money, either at the central or the state level, should be spent to address the key challenges before the Nation. The focus should be the poor, farmers and common men and women, the youth and children. The challenge is to address the factors which inhibit the realisation of their full potential. This is a golden opportunity in our nation’s economic development process. My recent visits across the world have shown that there is a lot of optimism about India and interest in investing here. Everyone wants to partner with India in its growth story. This is not an opportunity for the central government, but an opportunity for India as a whole. Let us aim at a quantum leap in the process of our nation’s development. I am writing this to you in order to seek your co-operation and involvement in defining key challenges facing your state and the country and to devote the time, energy and resources to address these. I expect that every state will come up with a plan for its key priorities and deploy resources for this purpose. We should also adopt a rigorous system of evaluation of schemes and projects. I will work with you in this effort. Together, we have to establish benchmarks in terms of quality of works and their speedy execution. Let us work together in this direction. I will be available for any consultation in this regard at any time." ***********Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions

The Mainstreaming of AYUSH is one of the core strategies in National Rural Health Mission which seeks to provide accessible, affordable and quality health care to the rural population. Under National Health Mission (NHM)/ National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) provision for support for Ayurveda Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) doctors, paramedics and drugs is made at co-located public health facilities namely Primary Health Centre (PHC), Community Health Centre (CHC) and District Hospital(DH) with a view to provide range of services at collocated facilities and revitalize local health traditions. The support for AYUSH infrastructure, equipment / furniture and medicines are provided by Ministry of AYUSH under shared responsibilities.

Under NHM/ NRHM, engagement of AYUSH doctors/ paramedics is being supported, provided they are co-located with existing DHs, CHC, PHCs with priority given to remote PHCs and CHCs. States/UTs engages the AYUSH doctors as per local preference.

Support for AYUSH medicines is also being provided at the AYUSH co-located health facilities. NHM/NRHM also supports for training of AYUSH doctors and Information Education Communication (IEC)/ Behavior Change Communication (BCC) activities for AYUSH.

States/UTs utilize funds for appropriate stream of AYUSH as per their requirement. The State /UT wise funds approved for mainstreaming of AYUSH during the current year are as placed below:

Fund Approval for Mainstreaming of AYUSH under NRHM

Fund Approval for Mainstreaming of AYUSH under NRHM

Sr. No

Name of State/UT

Amount Approved
in

2014-15 ( Rs. in Lakhs)

1.

Assam

1313.84

2.

Bihar

3676.95

3.

Chhattisgarh

168.40

4.

Jharkhand

158.33

5.

Jammu & Kashmir

1704.78

6.

Madhya Pradesh

1715.40

7.

Odisha

2600.30

8.

Rajasthan

2769.57

9.

Uttar Pradesh

21668.96

10.

Uttarakhand

699.07

11.

Arunachal Pradesh

126.72

12.

Manipur

455.26

13.

Meghalaya

307.72

14.

Mizoram

84.53

15.

Nagaland

105.6

16.

Sikkim

53.21

17.

Tripura

540.84

18.

Andhra Pradesh

293.76

19.

Goa

63.17

20.

Gujarat

2481.30

21.

Haryana

1171.42

22.

Himachal

353.76

23.

Karnataka

1470.95

24.

Kerala

2087.58

25.

Maharashtra

1462.31

26.

Punjab

1597.91

27.

Tamil Nadu

2133.89

28.

West Bengal

726.00

29.

Telangana

1823.75

30.

A & N Islands

163.90

31.

Chandigarh

54.59

32.

D & N Haveli

19.73

33.

Daman

7.56

34.

Delhi

0.00

35.

Lakshadweep

69.30

36.

Puducherry

220.66

Grand Total

54351.02

(Source: States Record of
Proceeding (RoP) 2014-15)

This information was given by
the Minister of State,

AYUSH(IC), Shri Shripad
Yesso Naik in a written reply

to a question in Rajya
Sabha today.

************ Standardisation and Certification of Indigenous Medical systems Most of the foreign countries including USA, Australia, European countries etc. have not recognized Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani, as systems of medicine, therefore practice of these systems and marketing of their products as medicines faces problems. The medicines of these systems are generally manufactured in India as per the standards and Good Manufacturing Practices in accordance with the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules thereunder but are often exported by the industry to such countries as food supplements or dietary supplements because of non-fulfillment of the regulatory requirements of the importing countries. The Government has set up Pharmacopoeia Commission of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy and Pharmacopoeia Committees to develop the standards of Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani drugs. Quality standards of Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani (ASU) drugs including the permissible limits of heavy metals, pesticide residue, aflatoxins and microbial load are being published in the respective Pharmacopoeias and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) have been notified under the provisions of Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945. System of WHO-GMP Certification and quality certification of ASU medicines by Quality Council of India on voluntary basis is in place for the industry interested to export these medicines. A Central Scheme has been implemented through which ASU drug industry can avail financial support for registration of products in foreign countries, preparation of drug dossiers and participation in international fairs and exhibitions. This information was given by the Minister of State, AYUSH(IC), Shri Shripad Yesso Naik in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today. ************Scientific Study on Alternate Methods of Treatment The efficacy and safety of drugs and therapies for various remedies is scientifically established through clinical validation carried out by the 5 Research Councils under the Ministry of AYUSH namely Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Central Council for Research in Yoga & Naturopathy (CCRYN), Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), Central Council for Research in Siddha (CCRS) and Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH). The diseases conditions for which clinical validation of drugs/remedies have since been carried out by these Councils include Acute Diarrhea in children, Anaemia, Amnesia, Acute gastroenteritis, acute rhinitis in children, Chikungunya, Filariasis, Influenza like illness, Malaria, Upper respiratory tract infections, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Benign, Prostatic Hyperplasia, Bronchial Asthma, Cancer, Chronic Bronchitis, Diabetes mellitus, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Leucorrhoea, Hepatitis, Menopausal complaints, Menstrual disorders, Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid arthritis, Urolithiasis, Urticaria, Anorexia etc. This information was given by the Minister of State, AYUSH(IC), Shri Shripad Yesso Naik in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today. *************Uniform Rules for Licensing of Ayush Medicines Regulatory provisions and Rules for Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathic drugs are in place under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, which is a Central Act applicable throughout the country. Rules 85-A to 85-I and Rules 151 to 159 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 respectively provide the regulatory provisions for grant of licenses to manufacture Homoeopathic and Ayurveda, Siddha Unani drugs and promote their safety and quality. The standards of Homoeopathic medicines to be complied with are prescribed in Schedule II of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 and of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani drugs in Rule 168 of Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945. Extension of support for improving the quality control system to Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathic drugs has been included in the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National AYUSH Mission, which was notified in September 2014. This information was given by the Minister of State, AYUSH(IC), Shri Shripad Yesso Naik in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

President of India’s message on the eve of National Day of Kuwait
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